Quarter Century Mark

That's a lot to carry around constantly.

That's right! I've lost 25 lbs since the start of this Noom thing. All I can think is, "It hasn't even been two months" and "I'm not even changing that much stuff" and maybe a little "WTF?"

These last five pounds have been a bit more of a challenge. Life has started to normalize with meal planning, etc. Still, it can be hard to find the time to do "all the things". The mix of work busy-ness, home projects and kids evening sports have resulted in some breaks in getting the daily 10k steps.

This past week has also been a challenge due to some very hot weather. It's been in the mid to upper 90s °F (>35°C) here in Minnesota. Fortunately, the humidity hasn't been too bad, but the heat is still very discouraging.

Here are some things that are working well:

• Workday food prep: fruits, hard boiled eggs and frozen power bowls, oh my!
• Water intake: I'm regularly getting >8 cups a day.
• Sleep: Usually out by 11/11:30 and up by 7
• Exercise: Steps are getting over 10k a day and I'm starting to work in some weightlifting, etc.

Here's a couple "areas of improvement":

• Dinner and non-work food: these need more planning, especially when it's just me. Granted I have plenty of healthy snacks now, but I need more of a dinner meal "ritual" instead of just opening the cabinets and grabbing stuff
• Stress: There's a lot going on and a lot of places I need to be. I need to find time to mindfully destress/meditate/etc.
• Keeping pace: Laundry, garden and housecleaning, oh my!? :/

It's important to realize that this is a journey and things like weather and schedules will fluctuate along the way. Meals and exercise plans won't be perfectly held. Keeping the effort conscious is the main key to success. With deliberate action will come the healthy habits. Not so much as, "I've been doing this a long time, so I can just turn my brain off on doing them", but "this is just what I do and it's gotten easy and instinctive to do with time". The former thought will just result into drifting back into the habits and mode of operation that I've almost always had; my default state. The latter may always require a little effort, more and less at times, but is worth it in the end.